Thursday, February 12, 2015

Storm in a Teacup Swan Street Chamber of Commerce Pop Up

Occasionally (or maybe a little more than occasionally) I can be strategic with where I request to go for a meal. Last weekend, I was in the mood to revisit Feast of Merit, for the deliciousness the kitchen pumps out…but it also happens to be on Swan Street…just down the road from the newly opened Swan Street Chamber of Commerce…which happens to have My Two Mum’s ice-cream sandwiches…and I happen to love ice-cream. How convenient!

Unfortunately, we were a little too early for ice-cream, so I instead drooled over cronuts that Rustica Sourdough had on offer and checked out the pretty bits and bobs in the main area (I do wish they had a bit of seating down there…).

I eventually explored out back where there was a food truck, as well as a set of stairs that curved around with bright graphic text adorning the walls, adding a bit of life to the space. These stairs led to the Val Cinemas, which are super cute and I definitely want to watch a film there sometime, but also to the Storm in a Teacup pop up.

Especially since it was relatively early, the place was quite quiet, and rather soothing and calming, with a fair few number of tables and stools. It’s the kind of place I could sit with a good book and read quietly for a while and also the right kind of space for Storm in a Teacup I felt. It might be even bigger than their Collingwood store!

But what I couldn’t stop looking at, since entering the room, was the slick looking, very modern, beast of a machine sitting up on a counter, the centrepiece of the room. It definitely wasn’t a coffee machine. So what was it?

This was the Alpha Dominiche Steampunk machine. Steampunk.

The name’s kinda hardcore. It’s pretty hardcore.

And they’re using it for tea. I dig it.

Apparently it’s relatively common in the states, and used for filter coffee, but this might have been the only one I’ve seen in Melbourne, and instead of coffee, it’s perfect for tea.

The girls at the shop kindly let me watch the process, when I swapped my order from an iced matcha to a matcha laced sencha tea, just to see the machine at work!

It heats up water by introducing steam, and then when your tea leaves are popped into the top, it introduces steam again to brew it, at just the right temperature that’s dictated by the touch panel, before it’s dispensed out at the bottom.

It’s the future. Whoa.

My tea itself was also delicious, apparently using the machine leads to better flavours, as more exposure to fresh steam introduces more oxygen, so like wine, deepens the flavours (or something like that I assume). Normally, I can swig a cup of tea in minutes, but with my matcha and sencha, I was quietly sipping and savouring the flavour. Also loved the fact that it was pretty much electric green in colour, so fun! Would definitely have it again…